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CIRCULAR No.41/1999/TT-BTC OF APRIL 20, 1999 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DECREE No.14/1999/ND-CP OF MARCH 23, 1999 OF THE GOVERNMENT PROMULGATING VIETNAM�S 1999 LIST OF GOODS AND THEIR TAX RATES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREEMENT ON THE COMMON EFFECTIVE PREFERENTIAL TARIFF (CEPT) OF THE ASEAN COUNTRIES

In furtherance of the Protocol on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam�s participation in the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) for realizing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), concluded on December 15, 1995 in Bangkok;

In furtherance of Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government promulgating Vietnam�s 1999 List of goods and their tax rates for implementation of the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) of the ASEAN countries;

The Ministry of Finance hereby provides the following implementation guidance:

I. SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Import goods eligible for the CEPT preferential tax rates as defined in Article 1 of Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government must meet the following conditions:

1. Being on the list of goods promulgated together with Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government;

2. Being imported from ASEAN countries, including the following countries:

- Brunei,

- The Republic of Indonesia,

- Malaysia;

- The Republic of Philippines,

- The Republic of Singapore,

- The Kingdom of Thailand,

- The People�s Democratic Republic of Laos,

- The Federation of Myanmar.

3. Meeting the CEPT criteria on the original content and having certificates of goods origin from ASEAN countries (as prescribed in Part III of this Circular);

4. Being transported directly from the exporting country(ies) which is (are) ASEAN member(s) to Vietnam (as prescribed in Part IV of this Circular).

II. APPLICABLE TAX RATES

1. The import tax rates applicable to import goods which are eligible for the CEPT preferential tax rates as prescribed in Part I of this Circular shall be the ones specified in the list of goods and their tax rates promulgated together with Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government.

2. For import goods which fail to fully meet the conditions prescribed in Part I of this Circular, the applicable import tax rates shall be the tax rates of such goods specified in the preferential import tariff promulgated by the Minister of Finance or the ordinary tax rates according to the current regulations on the determination of import tax rates.

3. In cases where certain tax rates in the preferential import tariff are amended lower than the tax rates of goods items eligible for the CEPT preferential tax rates as specified in the list of goods issued together with Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government, such lower preferential tax rates shall apply to such goods items;

4. In cases where there appear changes of goods items in legal documents promulgated by the ASEAN countries for implementation of CEPT Agreement that affect the right to enjoy Vietnam�s preferential tax rates as prescribed in Part I, the Ministry of Finance shall provide appropriate guidance for each specific case.

III. CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN AND EXAMINATION OF CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN

1. The rules upon which the goods are recognized as having the origin from SEAN countries are defined in the Regulation on goods origins applicable to the CEPT Agreement (Appendices 1, 3 and 5), the Regulation on issuance of Vietnam�s certificates of ASEAN origin of goods, issued together with Decision No.416/TM-DB of May 13, 1996, and Decision No. 878/1998/QD-BTM of July 30, 1998 of the Ministry of Trade.

2. The agencies competent to issue certificates of ASEAN origin of goods - Form D, of the ASEAN countries, include:

- In Brunei: The Ministry of Industry and Natural Resources;

- In Indonesia: The Ministry of Trade and Industry;

- In Malaysia: The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry;

- In Philippines: The Customs Office;

- In Singapore: The Trade Development Department;

- In Thailand: The Ministry of Trade;

- In Laos: The Ministry of Trade;

- In Myanmar: The Ministry of Trade;

- In Vietnam: The Ministry of Trade and the Industrial Park and Export Processing Zones Management Boards authorized by the Ministry of Trade.

3. Certificates of origin must bear signature(s) and seal(s) identical to the official specimen signatures and seals announced by the above-said competent agencies to the member countries.

4. In case of suspicion of the truthfulness and accuracy of the certificates of ASEAN origin of goods - Form D, the customs office shall be entitled to:

- Request the re-examination of the certificates of ASEAN origin of goods - Form D. The customs office shall send its dispatches to the organizations competent to issue such certificates of origin in the exporting countries, requesting the verification.

- Suspend the application of CEPT preferential tax rates specified in the list of goods issued together with Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government and temporarily collect import tax at the tax rates of the current preferential or ordinary import tariff.

- Request the concerned importers to provide more documents (if any) to prove that their goods actually originate from ASEAN member countries, within 01 (one) year.

- Pending the re-examination results, the procedures for such goods clearance shall still be carried out according to the ordinary import regulations.

- When it fully acquires the documents evidencing that the goods actually have the ASEAN origin, the customs office shall carry out the procedures to reimburse the importers the difference between the import tax amount temporarily collected at the tax rates of the current preferential or ordinary import tariff and that at the CEPT preferential tax rates specified in the list of goods issued together with Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government.

IV. DIRECTLY TRANSPORTED GOODS

The goods which are transported in accordance with Rule No.5 of the Regulation on goods origins applicable to the CEPT Agreement (Appendix 1) and the Regulation on the issuance of Vietnam�s certificates of ASEAN origin of goods, issued together with Decision No.416/TM-DB of May 13, 1996 of the Ministry of Trade, shall be considered goods sent directly from an exporting country being ASEAN member to Vietnam.

V. OTHER PROVISIONS

The regulations on tax calculation bases; the regimes of tax collection, payment, exemption, reduction, reimbursement and retrospective collection; handling of violations and other regulations shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Export Tax and Import Tax and the current guiding documents.

VI. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect as from January 1st, 1999 and applies to all cases of goods importation from the ASEAN countries with import goods declarations submitted to the customs office as from January 1st, 1999.

For goods eligible for the CEPT preferential tax rates under the implementation effect of Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP of March 23, 1999 of the Government, for which import tax has already been collected at the 1998 CEPT preferential tax rates (under Decree No.15/1998/ND-CP of March 12, 1998), or at tax rates of the current preferential or ordinary import tariff, the customs office shall check the dossiers thereof and reimburse the tax difference (or collect the tax arrears) in cases where the tax rates applied in tax calculation are higher (or lower) than those specified in Decree No.14/1999/ND-CP to (from) the importers.

This Circular replaces Circular No.95/1998/TT/BTC of July 3, 1998 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of Decree No.15/1998/ND-CP of March 12, 1998 promulgating the 1998 list of goods for implementation of the Agreement on the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) of the ASEAN countries.

Any difficulties and problems arising in the course of implementation shall be promptly reported by the concerned units and agencies to the Ministry of Finance for appropriate additional guidance.

For Minister of Finance

Vice Minister

PHAM VAN TRONG